something went terribly wrong while they were fighting a house fire. shomari stone is there. >> reporter: jim those seven firefighters are in serious condition at washington hospital. let me move out of the way. you can see right up the hill right there. those are flashing lights. you move to the left that's where the fire was burning. it started behind me near 57th avenue and sheridan street near riverdale height. it started in a one-story vacant house with a basement. fire officials told me they received an emergency call at 9:00 tonight, rushed to the scene and firefighters began battling the blaze inside. a gust of wind swept through the home. the heavy wind blew through an open window creating an instant inferno. officials believe that firefighters may have fall front first floor into the basement, but then again this information could change. it's preliminary. and firefighters that were injured in this, they have cuts,

burns and broken bones. it took crews approximately 30 minutes to put out the blaze. i just walked up the hill, talked to some firefighters, and they have really bewildered looks on their faces. it took a lot to put out this thing. they are determined to find out what caused this fire. live in riverdale heights, shomari stone, news 4. to the other big story tonight, the wind across the area. strong gusts are blowing scaffolding, tarps and flags around. there are a couple thousand people who have lost power because of the wind and a bill tree fell alongside route 123 in mcclain. let's go right to doug cammerer in news center 4. >> we'll see the wind again tomorrow when that sun comes up and helps to amplify those winds. look at these big-time wind gusts. just around the bwi airport, 54-mile-per-hour wind. flint, maryland in frederick

county. wind gusts of 63 miles per hour. and alexandria and towards dulles right around the airports there, 51-mile-per-hour wind gusts. so we are definitely seeing those winds across the region. current wind gusts down to 25 in the washington, d.c. area. martinsburg comes in at 41 miles per hour and gaithersburg 33, leesburg at 38. those are doing a number to the wind chill. we're talking wind chill a day after we saw temperatures near 70 in many locations. we'll talk about that and what it means for your weekend coming up. teenage girl stabbed tonight outside the metro station. investigators say it happened during a fight involving a group of young women. the wounds to the teenager are said to be not serious. police so far have not released any information about either suspects or arrests. two military families in northern virginia are mourning tonight after learning their sons were among the seven marines killed between helicopters collided in arizona earlier this week. jackie benson reports.

>> reporter: 37-year-old major thomas pedrako and 28-year-old captain michael quinn, both with ties to the d.c. area, both naval academy graduates. both marine corps helicopter pilots. both perished in wednesday's accident during helicopter training in yuma, arizona being done in advance of deployment to afghanistan. captain quinn graduated from lou den valley high school in percenterville, virginia. his family told news 4 they are too devastating to speak right now. >> obviously when the two marines and the chaplain showed up yesterday at the door, my daughter opened it and is courted them in. we knew something was wrong. >> reporter: donald pedrako recounts the life of his son. three tours in iraq, one in afghanistan. husband, father, beloved son. >> but he liked it. he was a perfect marine. so that's what he lived for. that is what he lived for. just a humble guy. just a humble guy. that's the way he wanted to be

remembered. >> reporter: major pedrako's family said he will be laid to rest in a ceremony in connecticut. captain quinn will be laid to rest at arlington national cemetery. we reported earlier about a terrible house fire in riverdale, maryland. seven firefighters injured. >> mark brady with the prince george's county fire department is on the line with us. what's the latest, mark? >> we have seven firefighters injured. one more seriously than the others. but all their injuries consist of burns, fractured bones and lacerations. apparently at the height of the fire when we had firefighters inside the home battling the fire, a sudden rush of air came into the structure from the rear, possibly from an opened up door or broken window. and aided by the high winds we're experiencing, that rush of air created a fireball type very untenable conditions for firefighters inside. it was all they could do to

escape as quickly as they could from the burning house. >> is that fire under control now, mark? >> the fire is under control. it took about 30 minutes total to extinguish the fire. relatively small house, very unfortunate situation that occurred. things were going well. the fire was being extinguished by firefighters but that sudden rush of air just made the entire interior of that house untenable. >> you gottal the injured firefighters out of there and they're at the hospital? >> they are. they're at the hospital. the fire chief bay shore is on the way down there as well as many other members of the fire service are weather them. again one firefighter has sustained critical injuries to his airway as a result of burn injures. the other six firefighters are suffering from various injuries, burns, fractures and lacerations. we'll pray for them all. thank you, mark brady with prince george's county fire department. >> thank you. tonight police and fbi agents are investigating a

suspicious letter sent to former vice-president al gore. that letter arrived at gore's office in nashville this afternoon. it contained a white powder inside. hazmat teams were sent to the office building. not sure who was exposed or what that white powder was. al gore was not in the office at the time. investigators say they do not think that this was related to a series of threatening letters mailed to lawmakers and media outlets this week here in washington and across the country. house speaker john boehner and comedy central's "daily show" were among the recipients of those letters. powder found in the letters has been found to be harmless. federal authorities say they're still on high alert. we are just four days away from the michigan primary, and the polls show mitt romney and rick santorum neck and neck in that state. at a speech in his hometown of detroit, romney tried to gain extra support by letting the crowd know that he and his wife drive cars made in the motor city. but critics say he went too far

and ended up sounding too rich. >> i drive a mustang and a chevy pickup truck. anne drive as couple of cadillacs, actually. >> while he spoke, auto workers protested romney's opposition to the auto bailout and his now infamous quote "let detroit go bankrupt." rick santorum is hoping to capitalize on that anger with new attack ads. maryland's governor martin o'malley tonight said he will sign the state's new same-sex marriage law bill into law thursday. that law will not take effect until next january and it's still facing challenges. today a republican referendum to put a ballot on the -- six men in the as pell hill area really caught police off guard. detectives say the men used a bucket truck to cut down wires from telephone poles along connecticut avenue. then they took the copper to scrap metal yards and sold it for cash. those men were pretending to be

verizon workers when caught last night police say they had more than 1800 feet of copper wire in their truck. that stuff is worth about $30,000. the frenzy over some limited edition nike shoes continues tonight. people now camping out outside the downtown locker room store on minnesota avenue northeast. that's where the foamposite galaxies are set to go on sale tomorrow morning. police had to keep a close eye on a big group at the mall in prince george's this morning. that's where rumored sales drew hundreds of people to the foot locker store there. many of them stayed even after the store said there would be no shoes available today. chaos over shoe sales in orlando, florida forced a foot locker store there to cancel sales. right now d.c. police are on the hunt for the gunman who shot and killed a 19-year-old as he was handing out pizza flyers. a neighbor reports seeing francisco rivas marched down the street with his hands behind his head just before he was shot.

his family can't believe it. >> he was a free spirit. he was happy. caused no harm to nobody. for him to die this way. nobody deserves to die this way. >> rivas leaves behind a 2-year-old son. norovirus may have caused more than 100 students and staff members to miss school today in fairfax county. the latest suspected outbreak is affecting the willow springs elementary school. dozens of people have complained of gastrointestinal problems there. health officials say norovirus cases tend to spike in the winter where people are more likely to be indoors and in close quarters. weekend activities at willow springs are canceled so crews can thoroughly clean that school. a guy picked the wrong car to try to steal this afternoon in northwest washington. it belonged to the secret service. it was parked outside sidwell

friends school on wisconsin avenue where president obama's children go to school. we're told the car is marked as belonging to the secret service. they arrested the man. here's something you don't see every day. a tractor-trailer who took a curve too quickly ended up flipping on top of a car. the 18-wheeler then managed to push an suv over the median into oncoming traffic. this all happened down in dallas, texas as wild as that one looks only one person was injured and those injuries are not serious. expect to feel a squeeze on your wallet if you need to fill up your car this weekend. a spike in oil prices pushed the cost of gas to $3.65 a gallon for regular. that is the highest ever nationally for this time of year. and if you fill up in the district you'll probably be paying even more than that. the average here has jumped now to $3.82 a gallon. compare that to $3.74 just last week and $3.30 a year ago. our super screen shows us the prices in maryland are on par with the national average today

at $3.64 a gallon. that is a 14-cent increase from last week. this time last year only $3.17. and in virginia the average is now $3.58 a gal. a six-cent increase from last week. and up 48 cents from last year. the near future also looks bleak with aaa projecting an average of $4.35 a gallon by the summer. >> that was jim hanley on that report. the highest prices at the pump are leading to an increase in counterfeit cash. this funny money is popping up at gas stations all over the country. different offices of the secret service now are paying more attention to gas stations by teaching the attendants there how to spot the fake bills. some gas stations are even installing so-called cash accepters which can electronically tell the difference between the good and the bad money. michael jackson's doctor will not be getting out of jail while he tries to appeal his

involuntary manslaughter conviction. a judge today denied conrad murray's request saying he could be a danger and a flight risk. late last year a jury convicted murray in connection to jackson's death. television news anchor in denver, colorado is finally able to speak now two weeks after being bitten by a dog on live tv. kusa's kyle dyer had 70 stitches and a skin graft to her lips. a dog saved by a firefighter after falling through the ice bit her during a live interview when she got too close to the dog. dyer says it was definitely an accident. she's happy that max, that's the name of the dog, is back home with his family. while what happened still haunts her, she credits her viewers with fuelling her recovery. >> to write me these notes so personal, to -- look, i'm starting to cry. to write such words of encouragement. and they just know me from tv. but they're just so wonderful, gary. i mean, people are just so kind,

loving, there to pick you up when you're down. and i will be forever, ever grateful. >> out of the hundreds of notes that she received, several were written in fact by complete strangers. so you buy a home with two parking spaces that you pay for. suddenly someone starts towing your car legally from your parking space. it's a nightmare for some residents in district heights, and it's a lesson to anyone with a homeowner's association. wendy reger reports. >> i hope this is over with soon. i'm a little bit tired now. i'm really tired and stressed. >> reporter: kathryn alley son is a grandmother who cannot walk without help. she can no longer park in front of her house. >> and i'm just so blessed that it's not snowing right now. >> reporter: she's one of 16 homeowners at the royal plaza development in print george's county. informed that the parking lot that came with their homes years ago was recently purchased by someone who doesn't want people parking there. >> no one would have purchased a home where they could not park. >> reporter: these signs went up

last year telling residents to move it or lose it. and then the tow trucks arrived. >> in april 2011 we woke up at 4:00 in the morning. and i'll show you that receipt where woe woke up in the morning rushing out here, begging them not to take our cars away. >> reporter: here's another problem. these residents have a homeowner's association that has been charging them almost $600 a year to maintain this parking lot. even after the lot was sold. >> like i'm paying moan in the wind and the wind is taking me to do what they want to do with it. >> reporter: the association has been dealing with the new owner trying to come up with a price to purchase that parking lot. but the owner is asking for almost $700,000. he purchased it for $100,000. in a letter the attorney representing the homeowner's association says this is an snafu that originated with the developer who did not transfer all the land to the royal plaza when it was being built. >> now we have to park on the street, take this long walk in fears of our lives. >> reporter: wendy rieger, news

4, prince george's county. a passing to report tonight. washington retail and fashion icon harriet cassman died last night. she was 90 years old. cassman owned a high fashion boutique that was most recently located at the marza gallery. she moved to washington back in 1967 and was among the first in the area to bring in big designer lines such as calvin klein. cassman had just retired only in 2009. this sunday marks 19 years since the first terrorist attack on the world trade center. six people were killed in 1993 after extremists set off a truck bomb in the north tower parking garage. their names are now inscribed with those of september 11th victims at the ground zero memorial site. the 9/11 museum will hold a ceremony in honor of the bombing victims on sunday. they had some winter out in chicago today. a snowstorm dumped more than six inches of snow out there. that storm snarled air traffic across the country, forced airlines to cancel 200 flights at o'hare.

it's also blamed for dozens of accidents. that same storm is also blamed for knocking out power to thousands of people in the northeast. here's a new problem in south dakota the snow's causing traffic tie ups because it's covering up the traffic lights. the city of sioux falls recently installed energy-efficient l.e.d. traffic lights. but they don't emit enough heat to melt the snow that piles up on them. the city's been taking resident calls about covered lights and dispatching crews to clear the lights of snow. >> is that what you call oops? >> as soon as you said that i was like because they aren't giving off enough heat. >> makes perfect sense. but gosh, what a problem. >> you may not think about that until you see the snow coming down. >> trying to save energy, do something good doesn't always work i guess. >> not at all. >> are those winds out there going to die down soon? >> a little bit. this is good news. we've seen winds upwards of 50, 60 miles per hour. but if this had happened during the day today with the sunshine out there the sun always makes those winds a little bit stronger. we could have seen winds of 50

and 60 all over the region instead of just a few locations. i do think we'll see very windy conditions again during the day tomorrow once the sun starts to make its way up. out there right now you can see the camera shaking across the area shaking in that wind. the latest gusts at the airport 25 miles per hour. temperature right now 48 degrees. sustained winds out of the west-northwest about 16 miles per hour. we're seeing clear skies here so you could take that cloud out of there. jupiter and venus up with the moon earlier this evening. a beautiful sight after a beautiful sunset. 43 the current temperature in leesburg, wallburg, portions of calvary county. w winchester around 49. then you add in those winds, gusting upwards of 40 miles per hour in martinsburg, leesburg and dulles airport. 28 miles per hour in fredricksburg and towards pax river wind gusts of 25 miles per hour. you add that wind with the

temperature wind chills 29 in martinsburg, 30 in winchester. that's the way it feel out there. 35 in gaithersburg and right now 42 degrees in washington. fredricksburg after a high temperature today of 77 degrees now has a wind chill of 43. a 34-degree temperature drop. that's the way it feels out there on the exposed skin. you can see what's happening. the cold air racing in across the area. there goes our frontal boundary that. brought severe weather across the region today. parts of southern maryland picking up close to an inch of rain, some hail earlier. now we're looking at the snow coming down across the area. we will not see any here. i don't think we'll see any here. but back to the west into the mountains, not bad out there. i think the ski resorts could pick up a little bit of snow towards western portions of maryland and into west virginia. the wind advisory still in effect until midnight tonight. most likely should be dropped by that time because winds are not getting up to that 50-mile-per-hour range anymore. but they could be -- we could be seeing those winds up that high once again during the day tomorrow. at least a 30 and 40-mile-per-hour winds during

the day tomorrow. our front continues move on through. watch the snows here just sticking around back there toward the mountains. so they could pick up a couple of inches of snow overnight tonight right on through the day tomorrow. so tomorrow cool and rather windy. wind chills all day i think staying in the 30s. so a much cooler day than we've seen across the area. sunday, however, our winds begin to die down and we just see some nice weather. the nice weather returns very, very quickly just like it has all winter long. partly cloudy tomorrow morning, wind chills in the 20s in most areas. winds tomorrow morning could gust upwards of 30, 35 miles per hour. tomorrow afternoon we'll still see those winds gusting to 40 miles per hour. 45 to 48 as far as the temperatures go. and we'll see a mixture of cloud and sun. can't rule out a possible shower or flurry to the west. i'm talking about the higher elevations back there. next couple of days, gee whiz, spring returning. 50 on sunday, 60 on monday, 56 on tuesday. and why not throw in there low 60s on wednesday with another chance for some thunderstorm

activity. so you notice that forecast right there that forecast is something that you normally see at the end of march or early april. not at the end of february. >> i think the groundhog was wrong. >> well, the groundhog normally is, doreen. we don't trust that thing around here. >> thanks. the white house announced today that this year's easter egg roll will be held on monday, april 9th. president obama and first lady michelle obama made that announcement today. the event will feature live music and games. kids 13 and under are welcome to join in the fun. tickets will be distributed through an online lottery system beginning on march 1st. still ahead tonight on news 4, a lobster catch that has everyone in the northeast talking. wait until you see this. and in sports, ovechkin found his scoring touch. the question, d

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>> talk about games you must win. >> this was a must win. this is good news. the caps have the canadien's number this season. three games, all three ending in three-goal victories. the latest tonight at verizon center. alex ovechkin back in the lineup missed the last game with a lower body injury. second period caps up 1-0. montreal loses the puck along the boards. caps on the attack. jason chimera out front. where's the puck here? it's underneath carey price and he's in the net. chimera scores. 2-0 caps. moments later, marcus johannsen dropped past dmitry orlav.

caps scored twice in 16 seconds. go on to beat montreal 4-1. the caps play on the road at toronto tomorrow night. talking baseball now, the nationals' bull pen was ranked fifth best in the big leagues last season with a 3.2 earned run average, the nats relievers spelled serious relief, anchored by drew storin he grabbed the bull pen by the hoppers. our own andrew kelly catches up with them at spring training. >> reporter: the primary reason so many people are picking the nats to do well this year is because of the pitchers. as good as the starters are the bull pen might be even better. closer drew storen coming off the career year with 43 saves and he cherishes every moment of pressure out there on the mound. >> that's fine with me. i'll take any extra pressure. i love it. i'm a big pressure fan. i want to get some saves in october. i think that's really the main thing. there's a big difference i think

between pitching and regular season game and closing that out and closing in the world series or in the playoffs. i was watching it on tv last year with everybody else. and watching that just made me hungry to get there. >> reporter: another pretty good closer has been added to the bull pen. that is brad lidge. but his role to play anywhere they want him to. he knows storen is the closer. he says he'll be more than happy to relieve him when he needs it. in the nba rising stars game team chuck against team shaq. wizards guard john wall playing for team chuck. first half wall with the block. who says they don't play defense in these games? on norris cole then wall doing it on offense. second half, more wall, marchand brooks up to wall here. finished with 17 points, 8 assists. team chuck beats team shaq 146-133. college hoops coach brenda frese and sixth ranked maryland hosting carolina on senior night. early first half senior kim

rogers for three. burris it. check out the reaction. terps up 53-2959 at the break. 14 rebounds. the terps defeat the tar hills 83-64 improving to 24-4 overall, 11-4 in the acc. you go. >> she always puts up a competitive team, doesn't ♪ let me get that door for you... [ man ] i loved my first car... sometimes the door gets stuck... oh sure. ooh! [ man ] ...and then, i didn't. um... [ sighs ] [ man ] so, i got a car i can love a really, really long time. [ male announcer ] for the road ahead, the all-new subaru impreza®.

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fisherman in maine recently landed a 27-pound, 40-inch long lobster. check it out. bob maloney found the jumbo lobster in a net after the season's last haul of shrimp. he died marine patrol and got permission to bring it to shore. rocky, the lobster, has claws that look more like catcher's mitts. >> i couldn't believe it. i set it on the deck there, let it crawl around. geez, i spent a lot of years looking for something like this. >> no, rocky didn't end up on a dinner plate. >> oh, darn. >> he was taken to the maine state aquarium and set free. just in case you're wondering, he's not the biggest lobster ever. a fisherman in nova scotia caught a 44-pounder in 1977. so long, rocky. >> updating our top story tonight, seven firefighters from prince george's county injured while fighting fire in riverdale, maryland tonight. they were inside a house on 57th street when a wind gust came through an open window, created an inferno there.

those firefighters were taken to the washington hospital center. their injuries vary between cuts, broken bones, one firefighter suffered burns and in his breathing passages. we'll have much more on the story beginning at 6:00 tomorrow morning. >> that's our news for now. "the tonight show" is coming up

>> announcer: it's "the tonight featuring rickey minor